Change #1 – Gym Same Team Challenge

Note: These changes are numbered for the ease of following along. These are not necessarily the order in which I would like the changes to occur, if they do at all.

I live in an area where gyms are few and far between. As I mentioned, I see one gym on the map by my house, but it’s on a divided highway and the gym is not easy to get to unless I am going that direction. Usually, by that time in my drive I just want to get home. It is that close. Walking is dangerous, no sidewalks, so I skip that gym more often than not. So I drive to others.

I know I can’t be the only player who has gone through this. Among the limited gyms that I see on days where I go outside of my normal commute, sometimes I see one that is my color/team (Blue/Mystic). I drive (or walk if I am in a place I can walk to safely) I go to put one of my Pokemon in. It’s full up with 6 Pokemon in it. Even worse, at least one has been in for way more than 8 hours 20 minutes (the amount of time it takes to get 50 free coins, which is the goal, especially when the gym is a gold gym). I have seen where all 6 Pokemon have been in for 48+ hours! This is even more frustrating when the next closest gym is miles away! This causes lost opportunities to make coins the only reliable free way and discourages players. I have limited opportunities to play during the day. My commute does not put me near a gym where I can stop at. (No, I do not drive past the one in my “home screen”). I don’t have a gym close enough to walk to from where I work on break. I don’t have the freedom to hop in my car to go anywhere at lunch. 30 minutes go by real fast at lunch time. I have responsibilities at home. Even on weekends, there are only so many gyms I encounter. So every gym is valuable.

I have seen where some would like to get back to 10 players in a gym which sounds good, but only kicks the can a little bit down the road. There may be more opportunities to get into a gym, but that may not always be the best solution. After all, if 6 player to a gym can get crowded with 8:20+ people, so can a 10 player gym. Maybe in that area one particular color is dominant or one player contacts all their same color buddies and the gym is full up quick. Besides, I usually play solo when I get out. Solo fighting a 6 player gym is usually long enough as it is per round. 10 players would be insane! (And if I do play with a friend, the friend I team up with the most is on the Red/Valor team. We’ve worked out a deal where we alternate gyms that we beat of Yellow/Instinct. Still, we have run into where there is only one Yellow Gym and that’s the only gym!)

The Same Color/Team Challenge works basically the same way as if you were fighting a gym, but it’s one on one. If you want in on a gym that is the same color as you are that is full up, you can fight to knock someone out of the gym and replace them with your own Pokemon. To keep it fair, there are a few conditions.

1: Basic Conditions- You must be the same color/same team as the gym you are challenging, it’s full, and at least one (or more) of the Pokemon has been in for 8 hours 20 minutes or more.

I know that there is a time occupied component to how much XP you get at a certain gym which makes the medals change. This is only one way to earn XP though. Berry Feeding, Completing Raids, Defeating Pokemon in the Gym, Deploying Defenders, and Spinning the Stop all add to the XP of a gym. So if you can get back to the gym and challenge another player out, you would get Defeating Pokemon in the Gym and Deploying a Defender points immediately from the challenge. I would also imagine that a player would Spin the Stop as well, and I know I feed at least one berry to top my Pokemon’s health off (besides getting the 20 Stardust). Even if no other Pokemon qualifies for the Challenge, spin the spinner. Maybe you can also feed one or more of the players of the same color if you are feeling generous. At least you get XP and Stardust!

2: Number of challenges

Optimal: One challenge per player per calendar day. Let’s keep the gyms cycling among a larger group of players, if possible. The challenge is not considered an item in the item count.

Alternative: First challenge per day is free. If you get knocked out via this system, you get another challenge. Limit to two challenges per day.

3: With this comes a visual cue to know if we can challenge. Ideally, a challenge flag icon (think American/Canadian Gridiron Football) or a challenge available cue of some sort would be used. This could come up when you encounter such a gym, or be on the item page. This would avoid a lot of frustration of knowing/not knowing if you have a challenge available.

4: The challenger must have no other Pokemon in gyms at the time of the challenge. I want to encourage the challenge system, but it should be fair to all.

Other reasonable mutually exclusive suggestions for limits:

1 – Maximum of one other controlled gym. I have to travel to get to a gym, so I can understand not penalizing a player for having only one gym, especially in an area where gyms are not plentiful.

2 – You have at least one gym in a similar situation where you can get challenged out you get a challenge. I have had gyms where I was in 24 hours or more very easily. I know of gyms that haven’t changed color control for a week or longer! So this is reasonable.

3 – One challenge per day regardless. All of these scenarios can be easily monitored by the game with a simple flag system. Players can look at gyms and see how many they are defending at one time and if they have a Pokemon in a gym 8:20 or more.

4 – If you are in a gold gym, make 8:20 in the gym, and there are 6 players in the gym, if someone of the same color comes to challenge, your Pokemon is automatically ejected. After the 50 coin max, there is nothing left to gain being in a gold gym.

Hopefully this is fair enough for everyone and encourages players to go out and seek gyms that would be otherwise full. Also, these gyms would cycle more often and make the game coins easier to access for all.